Interview no-show follow-up email template

Keeping the irritation out is the hardest part of an interview no-show follow-up email, which goes out on the day a candidate misses the slot. Something usually did go wrong at their end: a sick child, a wrong time zone, an email that never made it out of a promotions tab. Send one follow-up with a way back, then one line to close the file if nothing comes of it. Two emails, no chasing, as set out in how to reduce interview no-shows.

The templates

Subject We missed you today · [Role] interview

Hi [Candidate first name],

We had you down for [Date and time] today and you were not able to make it, so I wanted to check that nothing has gone wrong at your end. Days come apart, and it is not a problem.

If you still want the interview, pick a new time that suits you here: [Booking link]. It takes a moment and there is no account to create.

If you have decided against [Role], that is fine too. One line back and I will close it off.

[Your name] [Company]

Subject Closing your application for [Role]

Hi [Candidate first name],

I wrote last week about the interview we had booked for [Date and time] and have not heard back, so I am going to assume the timing is wrong and close your application for [Role].

There are no hard feelings in this at all. If I have it wrong, reply any time this week and I will reopen the application and send the booking link again.

Thank you for your interest in [Company], and good luck with the search.

[Your name] [Company]

When to send it

• The same day, an hour or two after the missed slot, while the candidate can still remember what they were doing instead.
• Once. Chasing a second and a third time buys you nothing and leaves you pursuing a person who has already made their decision.
• The closing email about a week later, so the file shuts cleanly instead of drifting.
• Straight away, not the next morning, if the candidate has been reliable until now and this looks like an accident.

What to change

• The tone. No reproach and no wounded phrasing. Everything the candidate might read as a telling-off makes a reply less likely, not more.
• The way back. A link they can use alone works better than asking for their availability again. In Bestpeople the candidate has a personal link that reschedules the interview, with no account and no form, so moving it costs them nothing.
• The deadline in the second email. Naming a date is information rather than a threat, and it is what lets you close the file.
• The name on the sign-off. This email should come from the person the candidate has been talking to, not a shared inbox.